Sunday, 30 July 2017

The sport of fishing is a strange one, we get bombarded with adverts and advice about baits, tackle, rigs and lures yet in reality fishing is as simple as putting a bait or lure in front of the fish. Finding the fish is near enough everything and if we break captures down in terms of importance then catching fish is 98% location, 1% bait and 1% rig, you simply can’t catch them if they aren’t there.

Brown lens polarizing sunglasses for fishing, great all rounders if you're new to our sport

With location being so vital to successful fishing, Polarised Sunglasses suddenly become a very important item of tackle that we really can't afford to be without. A good pair of Polarised sunglasses will take the glare off the water’s surface and allow us to see down into the water and this is a massive help when it comes to finding or spotting fish. With a pair of sunglasses on you can certainly spot fish that you couldn’t see with the naked eye. If you are a fly or lure angler polarizing sunglasses also offer some protection for your eyes, we’ve all seen the pictures that go round social media sites like facebook with an unlucky angler having a hook right through the eyeball after a freak accident, pictures like that really make me cringe and simply wearing a pair of these glasses whilst fishing will keep your eyes safe from harm, especially if you are casting repeatedly.

Click below to watch me talk about Polarizing Sunglasses for Fishing

Choosing a pair of polarizing sunglasses for fishing is easy for new anglers if you follow this simple advice, just remember that lens colour is the most important thing when considering a new pair of Polarised Sunglasses and below is a quick guide to the three main lens colours and their use in fishing.

Black or Dark Grey Lens Sunglasses
A black or dark grey lens blocks out the most light from the sun. This makes them ideal for bright sunny days. You know the type of day, not a cloud in the sky and the sun beating down relentlessly. If you are out fishing in these conditions then black or dark grey lens glasses are perfect for fish spotting when it’s really bright.

Polarised Sunglasses featuring a black or dark grey lens, great for finding fish on bright sunny days

Amber Lens Sunglasses (Yellowy colour)
An amber or yellow lens lets in quite a lot of light. This makes them ideal for low light conditions. Again you know the type of day, it’s dull and overcast with plenty of dark clouds around or it’s late in the day and approaching dusk and the light is fading. If you are out fishing and it’s quite dull then the amber lens glasses are perfect for spotting fish in low light conditions.

Amber lens Polaroid Sunglasses, ideal for spotting fish on dull and overcast days

Brown Lens Sunglasses
A brown lens is a really good compromise between black and amber lenses. Brown lens sunglasses don’t block out as much light as the black lens and they don’t let in as much light as the amber lens. Although they aren’t perfect for very bright or very dull days, they offer the best compromise if you just want one pair of glasses and it’s the brown lens polarizing sunglasses I’d recommend a newcomer to fishing to buy first because they will be great for all but the very brightest or dullest conditions, which is most of the time.

A bonus mirror carp caught when I spotted some fish with my brown lens polarising sunglasses

I’m mainly a short session carp angler so it’s vital that I locate those carp as quickly as I can. The first thing I do when I arrive at a lake is put my polarised sunglasses on, I’ve gained so many bonus captures when I’ve walked around a lake and found carp I wouldn’t have seen with the naked eye. Of all the items of tackle out there, a decent pair of polarizing sunglasses for fishing are a must for all fishermen the world over, whether you are a fly angler, a lure angler, a carp angler, a pike angler, river angler or a sport fisherman of any kind, a decent pair of Polarised Sunglasses will help you catch more fish and you are certainly missing out on extra captures if you don't own and use them.

Sunday, 2 July 2017

For my first trip of the year targeting UK Catfish I wanted to try an area of the catfish lake I’d never fished before, at least not for catfish anyway. I had a feeling it would turn out to be a good spot but unfortunately I found the area occupied on my arrival at the lake so I’ll have to leave that particular gut feeling for another time. With my new swim ruled out my best option was to drop into my favourite swim in the middle of the lake so at 2pm I pitched up in a very familiar swim and gave myself half a day to bank a wels catfish from the lake. In June it’s half light at 10pm so I had a maximum of 8hrs to bag a fish for the film that’s embedded into this article below, little did I know what was going to follow!.

First up I had to tie my rigs. Catfishing for me is very much a compromise so I just use a ‘stepped up’ carp rig. I use a size 8 Korda Kurv Hook with 25lb ESP Sinklink Braid as the hooklength. I simply hair rig a single 16mm Coppens Pellet then put the hook on knotless knot style. The hooklength is around 10 inches long (just less than the length of a ruler) and the lead arrangement is a homemade inline lead with 18 inches of Rig Tubing behind it. It’s a very standard type of carp rig and the idea is to fish for cats and carp whilst having the strength in the hooklink to land both.

My pellet rig for UK Catfish, it's just a stepped up carp rig

I rigged up a bait pretty quickly and under armed the first pellet out 15yds or so. On top of this hookbait I put a bed of around 100 pellets although I did lose count whilst putting them out so that’s a ball park figure. Once the pellets were out and the rod was on the Delkim I began to sort out the second rod, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this rod, did I put another trout pellet on and go all out for cats or compromise and target carp on the boilie?. I thought I’d sit down and have a think about that for a while so I left the second rod on the rest and began feeding mixers over the top of the pellet rod that was already fishing. I’ve done this before in the past and as well as attracting carp to feed in my swim, the carp feeding activity also pulls in the catfish.

I never did get that second rod out, I pondered what to do with it for just under an hour then my first run came to the pellets. It was the usual stuttery type of take you get from a catfish, they seem to take the bait and just not realise they are hooked and this one was no exception. I hit the rod and found myself attached to my first catfish of the year. It lacked the power of some of the larger cats that inhabit the lake but despite ‘only’ being 14lb 8oz it was still a powerful fish and it gave me the run around a little bit, specially close in as I had quite heavy beds of lily pads either side of me. All went well landing the fish and in less than an hour of fishing I’d already got some film footage.

Pellet Fishing for UK Catfish, click below to watch

Because ESP Sinklink is a braid for carp fishing I make sure I check it after every catfish, the ‘sandpaper’ type pads in the cats mouth can damage a braided hooklength and this had happened during the playing of this mid double catfish. I stripped the rig down and tied a new one using the same hook and the same Swivel and Kwik Clip, basically I just replaced the damaged braid with new stuff.

I was fishing again in no time and half an hour later it was déjà vu as I picked up a second wels catfish similar in size to the first one. I weighed the second cat in at 13lb 8oz, just a pound smaller than the first. Neither of these fish were what I was really after but if the cats kept feeding as they were the law of averages would mean a bigger one sooner or later, so again I tied up another new rig to replace the braid that had been damaged during the fight and under armed the bait out. After each wels catfish caught I was also topping up the swim with a further 50 Coppens Pellets so there was always plenty of bait to keep them interested.

After a quick brace of mid double cats it went quiet and I managed to have a brew and a bite to eat before it kicked off again. I was still fishing with the one rod and again it signalled a stuttery take that suggested another catfish had taken the trout pellet hookbait. Straight away I could tell I’d hooked into the right sized fish as my line peeled off the Reel under pressure, the difference in power between a mid double and a mid twenty was clear and I had to fight this one all the way to the landing net. I had a lucky break with this fish when it came straight over and through the pads on my left hand side, I was in a bit of trouble for a moment but once it cleared the pads it was just a case of keeping it under control until it was ready to Net, which thankfully wasn’t long. On the scales I got 25lb exactly, not quite as big as I was hoping for but it would certainly do!.

A 25lb UK Catfish caught on trout pellets

By now I was into a routine, again I changed the rig due to some damage to the hooklength braid, I had a new rig tied and out and another 50 pellets on top of it in no time. Half an hour later it was away again and again I found myself hanging on as my line disappeared from the Reel at a rate, like the last mid twenty I had just as much trouble with this one, indeed this catfish eventually found its way into the pads to my right and for a few minutes I was locked in a stalemate unable to move the fish. I piled on the pressure to my left then again to my right in the hope of getting the fish moving again, when I’d done this I applied as much pressure as I could in an upwards direction to try and get the fish up near the surface, this worked a treat and I managed to steer the fish into the open and keep it under control until I could get the Landing Net under it.
My second twenty in half an hour weighed in at 24lb 2oz and it made up a very nice brace indeed with the 25lb fish that came just before it.

24lb 2oz UK Catfish caught using pellets, just as they do on Spain's River Ebro

I put the rod out again but after a couple of bruising scraps lasting more than 20 minutes each I was knackered. When the rod went again for a fifth time I was starting to think ‘not again’, thankfully the fifth wels catfish in 4 hours was the smallest at about 5lb, I didn’t bother weighing it and after filming a little bit of commentary for the video I decided to pack up early rather than try to catch another one. I’m pretty sure I’d have caught again had I stayed until the end but 5 catfish in a half day session was an exceptional catch and to be honest I was worn out.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at fishing for UK wels catfish with trout pellets, as anglers who visit Spain’s River Ebro will tell you, trout pellets are a superb catfish bait and pellet fishing for UK Catfish is just a scaled down version of how catfish anglers fish over there. If you have catfish in your water or you’re going to a day ticket catfish lake then pellets will be a top choice of bait for sure.

Nothing beats Shimano for Reels

Web Directories

North West Carp Blog on the Web

Important Please Read

Links pointing to this site and directing visitors here are welcomed but.....These pages are copyright, please do not reproduce any of the material on this site, in any form, without prior permission.Thankyou.